Doppler wind lidar can ensure non-contact measurement of the atmospheric wind field based on optical Doppler effect. Doppler wind lidar is scalable with high resolution in time and space and exhibits large coverage and wide detection range. Further, it is suitable for mobile, foundation, vehicle, shipboard, airborne, and spaceborne platforms and is extensively used in flight safety, wind power generation, weather forecasting, scientific research, military defense, and so on. Herein, the main systems, technologies, latest developments, and applications of Doppler wind lidar at home and abroad are introduced and analyzed. Further, two techniques for direct and coherent detection are compared and summarized based on our analysis. In addition, the development trends, research hotspots, and application development of Doppler wind lidar are briefly summarized.